Some parts of you
by Wandering princess
Summary: Love crept up on them when neither was looking... stories about a certain pureblood girl with simple dreams and a death eater looking for something more...this is a series of DracoxAstoria drabbles from the prompts I get on tumblr, because there really isn't enough Drastoria out there...
1. Some parts of you

The first time someone ever shouted at Astoria she was perplexed and even a bit surprised, never mind that said person was Draco Malfoy and he had every reason to shout at her.

Her chauffeur had crashed her family's flying car right into his black convertible after all and Draco looked enraged enough to hex her.

Yet Astoria didn't make a move to get out of his way.

Because the fact remained that at twenty-one Astoria Greengrass, also known as the honorable Lady Astoria Circe Greengrass Blythe heiress to the houses of Greengrass and Gobblefoot had never once been shouted at in all her life...not that she could remember at least.

People always treated her like nicely or in muggle cases, respectfully, even in her darkest days back when the Dark Lord had Slytherin under siege, never did someone raise their voice to her above what was necessary.

Astoria wasn't the kind of girl you shouted at, she was a well born lady, unlike her elder sister that liked to flaunt her blood purity and status, Astoria wore her noble upbringing with a dignified spirit, making it obvious to others that she was a girl one needed to treat with utmost politeness.

Daphne would surely have been outraged if someone started screaming profanities at her like that, Daphne would have shouted back, dosed him with cool Greengrass sarcasm and accused Draco of idiocy, behaving like an ice queen because as the eldest Greengrass she could get away with it, but then again Daphne wasn't there, Astoria sighed in her head, dear Daphne who had never been as good as Astoria in behaving like a lady, who wasn't nice and quiet and could never be meek, who kissed too many boys and gave their beloved father too many headaches, her idolized sister who'd done the unthinkable and renounced their family name after the war in favor of eloping with an American Mud..Muggleborn

"Nobody has ever been so crude to me" she whispered, astonished Astoria raised her head to look directly into Draco Malfoy's eyes, her cream straw hat and perfectly pinned curls making a smart contrast with her green dress "Did shouting at me make you feel better Lord Malfoy?" She asked with genuine amusement, it didn't bother her at all that he was angry, in fact she felt elated that he was showing open anger at her...nobody ever did.

Hearing her refer to him by his title brought Draco out of his angry tirade, finally deigning to notice the crest on the opposite car, Greengrass, of course, pity he didn't have patience for other purebloods that day "No, but hexing you would" He replied cursing some more "yes I wonder how you would react to a sectusempra from me" and instead of the outrage he expected he saw her delighted surprise at his coarse language.

He of course like other pureblood men knew of Astoria, the youngest and now sole, heiress to the Greengrass legacy (the Daily Prophet not long had published a front page article on Daphne's shameful elopement) and tough Draco never liked Daphne much even he knew how much she'd hated playing the role of Lady Greengrass.

But in the same way he never bothered about Daphne in Hogwarts other than a few bored glances, he never bothered for her family either, despite the fact Astoria had been in Slytherin, the Greengrass where all neutrals in wars and thus not death eater material.

"I'm afraid your satisfaction would be short-lived since I know very few defensive spells, and would hardly pose a challenge" Astoria didn't like confrontations so she didn't give him one

"But you graduated from Hogwarts, excuse me but that's a shitty excuse to justify being weak"

"Father believes that ladies shouldn't have to defend themselves when they have husbands and fathers to do it for them, so far I've never been in a place where I wasn't protected at all times it's just the way tradition is" with a flick of her wrist Astoria pointed to two other flying cars in the vicinity sporting the Greengrass crest

Astoria tried to ignore the twinge of remorse that hit her everytime the war was mentioned, nobody knew how every Slytherin in her year had vanished the moment the death eaters broke trough the wards in Hogwarts, or where they had been safely absconded untill the war was over.

Those that knew would die by wizard oath if they ever told.

But everyone still considered it a coincidence too funny to ignore, forty boys and girls of the Slytherin house, alive, untouched and unmarked by the Dark Lord, all of them having voluntarily chosen their own lives over joining the battle, over their families, even their friends...Astoria among them.

But like her father told her the minute he portkeyed all her friends to the Greengrass safe house in America, the guilt was a small price to pay for her life.

And Draco had to look at her again, trying desperately to remember why he had thought traditions where so great, he didn't know Astoria Greengrass, no, not really, in their world interacting with younger purebloods even on social occasions was considered a waste of time, but he felt he did with just a cursory glance, she had the bearings of a pureblood lady born and raised, probably sheltered by her father behind the fidelius charmed walls of their many estates, the kind of woman who had probably never sat on a broom after finishing first year flying lessons and went around town escorted by at least three bodyguards, a trapped little bird in a golden cage that let others fight her battles because she was too weak, he wouldn't be surprised if that's why she was put in Slytherin and not Ravenclaw.

She was beautiful too of course, in a pure unmarred way only someone untouched by war could be, perfectly put together, not a hair out of place, and then Draco noticed her fingernails, the only thing not perfect about her, because they where uneven and misshapen, bitten off dreadfully...

Which was why he decided he wanted to see her again...she was a nail biter, Astoria, and that was enough to prick his curiosity on Daphne's perfect ladylike sister.

"And do you often do what daddy tells you lady Astoria?" He sneered

"When it keeps me from harm, yes, I suppose I do" her smile was a bit too practiced, it made Draco want to shake her, break the illusion Astoria seemed to live in because he couldn't stand seeing someone like her, she reminded him of how impersonal pureblood people where, how he used to be.

So he let her go, slipping a small note in her hand, when her chauffeur wasn't looking, smirking at his genius, not wondering why he picked her, all he knew was that he wanted to break someone, he wanted to shatter someone's world, destroy her faith in pureblood society like Voldemort destroyed his, maybe he just wanted to hurt her for being happy in her pretty cage, for escaping the bloodshed, or maybe he wanted to be there when she realized how awful and terrifying the real world was

Astoria's chauffeur started the car again and Malfoy saw her readjust her hat and hair with a flick of her wand before directing the man to the Greengrass Estate, smiling at Draco for one last time before elevating her window and being carried away, he briefly wondered if she had done things like this all her life, wearing the right clothes, smiling in right times and saying the right things to please her father, it's a wonder Daphne couldn't cope, Draco mused to himself, trying to imagine Pansy's outspoken and haughty second in command enduring the life of restrictions that Astoria seems to accept so easily. She briefly reminded him of how his mother must have been in her early twenties (only briefly, because despite her apparent passivity Draco's mother was still a Black and possessed a very bad temper under her patient face) nevertheless he didn't try to chase the thought any further, instead he turned his back to the road and got back into his car...

Astoria on the other hand was on her way back to the Greengrass Estate, trying to forget the piece of enchanted parchment Draco had put in her hand

Friendly offer Porcelain, If you ever want to learn a real defensive spell or two, I like to practice mine south of Malfoy Park, in Merlin's woods-D.M

A brief flash of annoyance shot trough her at his Porcelain doll implication before being replaced by curiosity, trying to ignore how amused she felt and how much she wished to reply nevertheless two hours later as she was getting ready to dine with her father, she still sat infront of her dresser with the note in her hand knowing it was futile "Oh you win Lord Malfoy" she said to the note "But just so you know I am not happy about it" and proceeded to write a reply on the back of it.

Then, summoning her most loyal house elf Astoria bid it to make sure the parchment found its way to Draco Malfoy's bedroom "See, he is not the only one that can be a clever" She said to the mirror on her dresser feeling quite foolish for talking to herself before going down to dinner like the billable daughter she was.

That night Draco came home to find a very peculiar piece of parchment lying right in the middle of his bed. The reply?

I'll be there tomorrow-A.G

Draco didn't know how the note had gotten past the wards and owl repelling charms on the windows, which brought a brief smirk to his face, hmm perhaps, just perhaps, Astoria Greengrass wasn't the weak little simpleton he thought she was.

That was how it began at first, a simple foray into the unknown. Draco wanting to hurt someone and Astoria wanting to prove something, by the end of that first meeting, he succeeded in making her cry, yet for some reason...she came back the next day

Astoria knew that she had been born with the face of an angel, as a child conceived with the aid of unicorn fertility magic, she'd been born with a rare inability to feel hatred, and as a result of both she has always lived in a world where people protect her, from childhood to adulthood Astoria has both known and used the fact she came off as Daphne's fragile baby sister to her advantage, overplaying her weaknesses in order to manipulate others into fighting her battles

And the first time she tried it on Draco, he didn't even flinch, just called her a baby, a midget weaker than a mudblood before proceeding to attack her again

She had never had to fight for anything or confront anyone in her life, if ever she got in trouble there was always someone nearby that immediately took the brunt of the blow and pushed her behind to look for cover, because she was Lord Greengrass's younger daughter.

Everyone around her had always treated her like she was made of glass, especially during the war...all exept Draco

Which was why every day at sundown, she took a portkey to Merlin's woods leaving her bodyguards behind in order to meet with an ex death eater.

Because Draco wasn't a phony pureblood man trying to woo her for a chance at the Greengrass fortune, or a rake pretending to be a gentleman, not even a rogue trying to seduce her, no, Draco was a just a fire-breathing dragon, one that for once in her life doesn't treat her with kid gloves...

And for once Astoria wanted to pretend she wasn't a pureblood lady but a normal girl.

Draco for his part couldn't help finding her a bit less annoying as the days went by, he would never admit it but Astoria Greengrass was growing on him for reasons other than her gradual improvement in defensive spells.

He couldn't explain it, but sometimes she did things that just made him want to laugh. Especially because she had a girly obsession with keeping herself clean, she hated dirt and rain and mud, slime and tree sap too, the list went on to frogs, lizzards, and "any animal that slobbered", but instead of being annoying with her collection of emergency cleaning spells and constant displays of female squeamishness, her little quirk made it easier for him to ruffle her feathers, so he made a point of spelling at least one of those things at her each time she failed in defending herself from him.

Seeing solemn and proper Astoria run around shrieking over a shower of harmless dirt always made his day.

Draco had met girls in his lifetime, shagged and broken girls too, but none as funny as Astoria, or at least that's what he told himself he considered her...funny..not pretty or cunning...just funny

She wasn't a deceptive snake like Pansy, a flirt like Daphne or particularly brave and outspoken like Granger, in fact Draco realized, that Astoria possessed personality traits that where not really celebrated in their new and improved wizarding society, she was soft spoken, even-tempered and docile, qualities that any self-respecting witch in their world tried to avoid having after the war

But as he continued teaching her to hex things, Draco realized that for someone so submissive she was also incredibly resilient and resourceful, Astoria was the kind of woman who might let someone strike her with a hex in a one on one fight, but would make sure her foe's food got mysteriously poisoned later. (As he had the misfortune of finding out after a certain incident where he took dunking her in lizard spit a bit to far)

She was funny Astoria Greengrass, just funny, so he tried to ignore the tiny sting of caring that might be worming itself in his insides

Astoria thought he was more a wounded animal than a wizard.

He had a habit of grumbling and sneering, trying to scare her on days he wanted to be alone, breathing poison and spewing acid like a self-destructive cauldron, searching for the words to make her hurt the most so that her obvious fragility might give in, instead all he ever managed to do was fascinate her.

She never pushed too much on those days, but they where the days they talked a bit more...usually about family, the one thing they had in common, pureblooded families...the Malfoy line went back just as far as the Greengrass one and it helped him, to do that, just talk with her, like strangers that didn't know each other at all, never mind that Astoria probably knew the Malfoy ancestry as well as he knew the Greengrass, she never complained, and Draco got the impression that on those days she operated under the pretense that he didn't have a death eater past.

Some days she wanted to kick herself, Its was masochistic how much Astoria thrived on his verbal jabs, twisting them around so she could turn the tables on him, nobody had ever treated her badly before, and Astoria Greengrass liked the realization that came with hearing Draco Malfoy threaten to hex her into oblivion, the realization that she might be less fragile than she'd been led to believe, because if she could hold her own against Harry Potter's Hogwarts nemesis, then that meant she was stronger than she thought herself to be.

So Astoria came back like a hero against a dragon, time after time, trying to measure her strength, to prove to herself that she was more than a sheltered little lady, more than manners and formal dining, she comes back to Merlin's woods because Draco didn't ever try to coddle her, or makes any promises of protection, because he tried so hard to prove her love for property was ridiculous while teaching her how to duel "like a man" that it gave her a measure of strength

This is what Astoria "little lady" Greengrass liked the most, that Draco didn't try to protect her against the world's evils like everyone else, instead he taught her how to protect herself, he never bid her to eat, or stay in the shade or get out of the rain, in fact, it seemed to Astoria that the worse for wear he could make "little lady Greengrass" look, the happier he was.

"You don't have to be hurt and angry all the time you know Draco" She told him once, on those rare evenings they spent talking "Yeah your past is terrible, but It's okay to be happy, maybe you should try it now that the dark Lord is gone"

He was silent for a long time staring into the sky, before looking at her as tough she'd just given him back something he lost "Maybe I will" Draco replied "Maybe I will"

And for those few hours in Merlin's woods, Draco and Astoria secretly shared a glimmer of freedom.


	2. I'll be your eyes

**I'll be your eyes (Drastoria)**

(Anonymous prompted: Drastoria permanently blind)

Side effect from the dark mark removing ritual, that's what the Medi witches called it. Draco called it karma.

He was blind at twenty-one, no hope of recovery, no spell to undo the damage, no shortcuts, just the definitive diagnosis that he'd never be able to see again.

Draco heard his mother cry, he head his father almost bite the head off everyone in St Mungos, he heard the nurses, his friends, who came to visit, the families of other patients, he heard them all…but he couldn't see them.

He supposed that compared to the things he'd gone through, like the cruciatus or imperius, being blind for life was much better than the alternatives, but he couldn't bring himself to feel grateful, or angry or sad….that was the worst part, Draco's loss of sight affected him so much he lost touch with his emotions, the numbness was all-consuming, he felt dead.

Magical aid for the blind could only help so much, his walking stick that automatically guided him through the house as soon as he whispered where or whom he wanted to reach was his biggest crutch, as was the dark glasses that informed him the name of every person in his general vicinity, with those two things, he at least managed to keep his dignity after being discharged.

At his mother's urgency he'd hired a braille tutor and learned to read it, eventually got a job as a Dark Arts Defense consultant for the Ministry's department of Litigation and just tried to build a life in general…But the numbness didn't leave, he still felt dead.

For the sake of his family, Draco went through the motions…untill he met her.

Astoria Greengrass, he saw written in his mind as the magical lenses he carried detected someone sitting next to him, another set of words flashed in his mind: Greengrass family heiress

She didn't seem to notice him, sitting there in the waiting room of St Mungos, perhaps because she was bleeding and all too busy with whatever limb of hers was making that drip drip sound, the smell of blood was something distinctive that it prickled at his sharp senses.

She was whimpering and Draco detected a vague scent of clove and vanilla when he felt her body slump to the side, into his shoulder, on instinct Draco held out his arms for her, realizing she was now unconscious, and held her before she fell. She was quite thin and small in stature, unlike Daphne whom he remembered from Hogwarts as being tall and athletic.

he let his hands seek out the source of her wound and tried calling a nurse with all his might, someone had used the cutting spell on her back and she needed help.

"We gave her enough potions to heal her, please stay Mr Malfoy, Miss Greengrass ought not to wake up alone and we have been unable to find her family" The medi witch said once he asked how the stranger…Astoria… was faring

That's how they met, in St Mungos, not the most romantic story to tell their children.

He learned right away when she woke up that she had the personality of a storybook princess and no common sense whatsoever when it came to her safety, she'd been volunteering in an orphanage when a Muggleborn wizard had tried hexing her, sure her bodyguards stopped the hit but the crazy dude apparently followed her and hexed her when her back was turned

"I don't understand, I've done nothing wrong" She whimpered "He called me a bigoted pureblood, my family isn't bigoted, we had no part in the war, all I was trying to do was help those children, I work with the Survivor Relief foundation"

"And this has never happened before?" Draco snorted in disbelief "Hard to believe considering how much bad press purebloods have been getting after the war"

"Of course it's happened before you git" The girl huffed and he could almost see her crossing her arms over her chest "I've been called names before, but this is the first time a Mud..Muggleborn has tried to hex me"

"Let me guess, you tried to report him but the idiot claimed you had your wand out first and the Aurors believed him because it's his word against yours"

"Yes! It was very frustrating how did you know?"

"I work with the Ministry's Litigation Department you'd be surprised how much easier it is to believe the penniless Muggleborn boy over the pureblood girl who goes around Diagon Alley with a set of bodyguards" he said dismissively sounding more than a bit annoyed "Plus it's happened to me from time to time" where it not for his heightened senses as a result of his blindness and his good reflexes, he'd be dead a long time ago

"I don't believe you, who would ever try to hex a blind man and claim self-defense?" The girl with the soft voice asked outraged

"Oh doll, Daddy doesn't take you out of the cupboard much does he?" Draco laughed and Astoria glared at the blond man, she couldn't exactly see his eyes as he was wearing those magical protective sunglasses blind people wore and darn glaring at a blind man made her feel silly as did sticking her tongue out to him, but she did it anyway "lots of people don't like the Malfoys, ex classmates and people my father pissed off mostly"

Suddenly he felt a small hand close around his "I'm sorry then" Astoria said and when she didn't move to take back her hand he unexpectedly squeezed it back

"Don't be" and neither commented on the fact he didn't release her hand until a healer came to check on her

"Will you come back?" Astoria suddenly asked when he got up to leave, she'd have to stay overnight in the hospital while her cuts healed and he'd made sure she had the best nurses possible (He was such a frequent visitor to St Mungos, he practically knew the staff on first name basis) "I mean, my family is vacationing in the Bermuda Triangle, I don't think I have lots of friends and my bodyguards are angry with me, I don't think people will even notice that I'm gone at work…it's just, I'm sort of alone…Merlin's Beard I'm blubbering, Greengrasses don't blubber, but Draco..,will you, just, if you want to, will you come back?"

Draco knew he should say no, claim he had work or something, the last thing he needed was to make friends with someone as vulnerable as Astoria Greengrass, however pureblooded and Slytherin she might have been, she was still very much like a newborn thestrall that needed to learn about the world, Draco as a rule didn't do vulnerability, but for a blind man, he was too familiar with the tinge of loneliness that colored her tone, he recognized it from his own voice when he answered "Yes, if you really want me to, I'll come back"

The next day when he entered her hospital room, he understood why Astoria Greengrass was put in Slytherin with his old school friend Daphne, because as soon as he got there he was assaulted with the sound of many of footsteps, apparently little Greengrass used her wiles to manipulate herself round the clock care and now had an army of people waiting on her hand and foot.

He should have been disgusted by the obvious way she played them all, instead he felt impressed. Not even he with his blindness and Malfoy charm back in the day he'd been interned in St Mungos he had gotten this kind of treatment and here she was sucking up to the head nurse with her little storybook princess act "All missing here I think is the flock of blue birds chirping and rushing to do your bidding" Draco remarked, his walking stick guiding him to Astoria's bedside easily "I see you are feeling better, or, rather, hear, because you understand I can't actually see"

Her responding laughter was warm and fairylike, like the rest of her "the birds left already perhaps they sensed your broodiness"

The blind man snorted "Funny" but before he could sit down Astoria stopped him

"Healer Lakshmi can Draco get a more comfortable seat transfigured for him please, that plastic chair looks terribly hard and I don't think sitting there will be good for his back" again he heard the nurses shuffle around giving him all their attention with a chorus of "of course" and "oh my, poor lad"

"Impressive, they don't even realize you are manipulating them" Draco remarked once they were alone "underhanded but impressive, yet it's an act"

"How can you tell?" the soft voice two octaves "I could be playing you too if that was the case"

"A good liar can fake many things doll but loneliness isn't one of them and yesterday at least, you were not lying, I can tell because your pretty voice comes out like a song today, when yesterday it was a sweet raspy mess"

"Takes one to know one I suppose" Astoria shot back, clearly angry that he'd been able to read her so fast "wait you think my voice is pretty?"

He didn't answer and she didn't push.

Strange how one cam feel at ease with a stranger of only you have things in common, Astoria wasn't a talker, despite the initial impression he had of her, she wasn't a babble queen, and she was a good listener tough and asked him about his life, his family, and friends. He felt that since his diagnosis he'd never talked so much about himself.

Astoria thought that for a blind man, Draco Malfoy saw more than people gave him credit for, she listened to his recounts of his days in Litigation court where he spent most of his time, complaining with his hands and making fascinating facial gestures that just made her want to memorize them all. He was handsome too, and tough Astoria couldn't see his eyes she'd bet her soul they were as beautiful as the rest of him.

He asked her out after she was discharged from her sick-bed and she accepted.

She on the other hand he came to learn, might be a Porcelain doll on the outside but she was made of steel on the inside, she was tiny and vulnerable and oh so cute according to all the gossip he heard from his mother, but baby Greengrass was cunning enough to use it to her advantage, in fact Draco was sure that the youngest Greengrass could sell shampoo to a bald man and get away with it

She was patient too, mostly when he got frustrated by his lack of sight, she held his hand tightly not saying anything and that was enough for him to calm down, and he also knew she was beautiful, because he'd gotten his mother to describe her face to him once, which brought the question, what would a girl of good breeding, charm and class like her want a good for nothing blind ex death eater like him?

Astoria had her insecurities too, Draco was strong and handsome, barely had to move a finger to get any girl despite his blindness, plus he'd gone through hell and back, survived the dark mark, turned his back to the dark lord in the last war and made a name for himself in the ministry as a reformed pureblood. He was sarcastic and funny and entirely too fascinating to leave alone, he might be blind but who could notice that when his smile made every reader of Witch Weekly faint and sigh.

What would he want with a girl like her? She wasn't strong or outgoing, or pretty like Daphne, she was quiet, not very brave and more often than not acted like a princess according to coworkers in the Greengrass foundation, kindness was her only saving grace and even then, why would a guy like Draco want to date a phony like her?

Eventually they had a row over it….

The fight wasn't pretty….

He got jealous, she got mad, neither was dating each other officially, which only made it worse, "I'm not your property" she said, "I'm not yours either" he shot back, more insults where traded, feelings got hurt.

He stormed out.

It took only a week for her to give in, and it would have taken him a day more, had she waited 24 hours to show up in his doorstep, yet when he opened the door and smelled her clove and vanilla scent permeating the air, he reached out blindly to take her into his arms "I'm sorry" he said holding her to him

"You see trough me" was the first thing she whispered back, warping her arms around him too "I'm a liar and a phony and a brat, but you see trough me" she mumbled into his chest "I don't care if you're blind for life, you do see, you see me, you see the parts of me nobody sees and it scares the crap out of me because I'm not used to people knowing the real me" Astoria confessed

"Do you think you are the only one?" Draco asked with a note of anger in his voice "I'm broken and jaded and have one hell of an attitude problem, but I like you Astoria, I like you too damned much to let you go, you understand me, you don't care if I'm blind or deaf or a bloody death eater, I've been numb for so freaking long but when I'm with you I feel things and it also scares me, because I don't know how to feel, I'm going to hurt you and you are going to run and it will be my fault, but if you leave I'll be left worse off than before"

"You like me" Astoria said ignoring the rest of his tirade and he could hear the surprise and elation in her voice "you really do like me"

"No Greengrass, I bloody love you, how pathetic is that for a blind guy?"

"It's not pathetic and while it's not the most romantic confession of all time at least now I know you won't reject me when I do this" and he felt her hand reach out for his hair to pull him down to her lips.

Then for the first time in years, Draco felt warmth, he was kissing her and it was a real kiss, not like the kisses he'd had before his blindness or even after, for all Astoria's expertise in lying, her kisses where as honest as they got, she kissed him with a mixture of uncertainty and joy that he could almost taste, and Merlin was she a good kisser. He would love to know what she was thinking

And then, he saw colors.

He saw his house, every detail, and his eyes and his nose….and it took him only a moment to realize he wasn't actually seeing those things, she was, and he was in Astoria's head.

A tiny moan escaped his lips and as if sensing him, Astoria sighed in pleasure, a thousand images of him and her running through her mind, of their dates, talks, arguments, he saw himself as she saw him, tall, dressed in black dress robes, with dark sunglasses smiling with a petite brunette witch, whom he assumed had to be her. But the kiss ended and the connection was broken

"That was my I-love-you-too" Astoria said breathless "Care to tell me what was that thing you did?"

"legimency by skin contact I think" Draco replied after some hesitation "Has someone ever told you that you are beautiful?" He'd only seen a glimpse of her in her mind and he already felt smitten

"Yes, but it's the first time I believe it" she replied sounding as tough she'd run a marathon "can you do it again?"

He felt himself smirk "Maybe" and with his hands he caressed every inch of her face, committing to his mind the shape of her features before touching her lips and kissing her again.

Eventually they stopped kissing and moved on to other things, but Draco never forgot the first time he saw himself trough Astoria's eyes. She never forgot either.

It was trough her eyes he first saw his mother's face again, his father's pride when he announced his intention to marry, he saw autumn leaves and constellations, the beauty of a snowed in Malfoy Estate and trough her eyes he could see the love she had for him. He never tried skin contact Legimency with anyone else, this was his and Astoria's secret alone.

They spoke their vows in a lavish ceremony (as befitting the union of the ancient lines of Malfoy and Greengrass) but they spoke vows nobody could understand, he smiled when he felt the braille inscription in his wedding ring

_"If you'll be my home I'll be your eyes…forevermore"_

AN: I hope you guys liked it, I stand by my beleif that there still isn't enough Drastoria in this world so if you want to shoot me a prompt Im #escaily on tumblr


	3. A window, a bed and some chemistry

**Anonymous prompted on tumblr: Muse A is best friend's with Muse B's older sibling, and comes home from college after some years of being away, sneaks into the window of what used to be the older sibling room but now it's muse B's room and muse A catches muse B changing or something, and they've grown up a ton.**

**An: this is what happened, hope you guys like it**

**(Semi-Au):** **A window, a bed and some chemistry in between**

Draco Malfoy was pissed, not at Potter this time (the usual reason he went into foul moods) not at his friends either (the second usual reason) no, this time Draco was angry at his father.

You see when one lived in a modern wizard society that coexisted right along with muggles hidden in plain view right in the middle of the major cities of the world, you would think things such as "free food" and "democracy" would have been part of the beautiful merger that made up their utopian technology/magic hybrid society known as Neo-Magical-Britain (NMB).

In a society where kids took for granted their right to choose between magical academies or muggle schools, wands where transfigured to look like pencils and ipods sold fast in diagon alley, Draco's father still believed in archaic pureblood rituals. Which in Draco's eyes, was complete bull.

Who cared about Beltane celebrations anyway?, sacrificing animals to the goddess was outdated, new magic rituals where beginning to replace old ones, with a father like that was it any wonder that after graduating Draco'd taken a one way ticket to a University in the Bermuda Triangle and never looked back?.

Not that Draco was against purebloods or what they stood for, in fact, Draco had been once called "the Slytherin prince" in high school. Back in the day when he'd attended Hogwarts Academy, he'd lived for the pride, the glory, the superficiality of it all, he still did, he was quite proud of the ancient blood that coursed through his veins, but no way in hell was he going to bathe in the blood of a sacrificed cow the next Beltane! (Naked, while other people watched) "this is what I get for coming home on early summer" Draco muttered to himself as he looked out the balcony towards the great ivy covered wall that separated Malfoy Manor from the great Mansion that belonged to the Greengrass family.

his friend Daphne lived there, she was probably still awake listening to another one of her favorite heavy metal bands like always, he should drop by, maybe hit the bottle with her for old times' sake.

ughh what a joke. He hadn't been home a full 24 hours and he already wanted to run away, to be fair he should call Daphne first to tell her he was coming over (especially at this late hour) but she was his best friend from years back, he knew she wouldn't mind.

Draco smiled to himself recalling his last Skype conversation with the eldest Greengrass a few weeks ago, she'd been glaring at anything and everything again, throwing passive aggressive remarks about Theo Nott and his apparent inability to let go of his feud with Zabini, all while sharpening a ritualistic dagger she planned on giving said unfeeling idiot for his birthday. But then again that was Daph, a Goth princess if you ever saw one, to her, everything was darkness, death, violence and passive aggressive comments, she even had pets called gloom and doom, and piercings in places that her father the honorable lord Greengrass, would frown deeply upon, that's why she got along so well with Draco, Theo and Blaise.

As the only girl in the group, she put their pain thresholds to shame when it came to dark curses. Serves to show why Theo and she made such a great couple, one hated everything and the other was entirely indifferent to everything.

Meanwhile in her bedroom, Astoria Greengrass had no idea Draco Malfoy was outside, magically climbing the wall, if she had then maybe she wouldn't have been as careless as to leave her window open while she tried on the new clothes she'd gotten from her latest shopping trip with Flora and Hestia Carrow.

Dirty dancing in the moonlight  
>Take me down like I'm a domino<p>

She sang freely, twirling around her room wearing only her underwear, conjuring a few mirrors to admire every angle of her body because while Astoria wasn't terribly vain, she did have a perchance for admiring lace and ribbons, and how she loved green and silver especially when it come from Victoria Secret "See mirror, told you Pilates was going to be worth it" she muttered. Holding up a pair of tailored pants and a peasant top.

Another day, another performance she'd had to put up for a thousand gossip magazines. _Another failure to assert her independence_

It was no secret in Britain that however close their bond was, the Greengrass sisters where as different as the day was from the night, Astoria being the one that took after their aristocratic father and Daphne favoring their liberal and open minded mother. Where Daphne was Linkin Park, Astoria was ballet, where Daphne was loud, Astoria was soft spoken, where Daphne liked rodeos, Astoria preferred the opera.

It might also be because Hyperion Greengrass spent more time with his younger daughter than he did with the eldest, as his wife Miranda never let him have much influence over Daphne's upbringing during their childhood, but be as it may, one of the girls had grown up to be a spoiled artist, while the other was rearing up to become the new lady Greengrass.

Despite the obvious imbalance, Astoria knew Daph didn't mind being thought of as "the Goth" in the family, in fact she herself had always preferred it that way, being a pureblood was nice when it came to status and money, but honestly, Daph would rather let little Asti inherit the family titles than have to manage that mess by herself, a philosophy of life she shared with their mother and with her boyfriend Theo (to a certain degree).

In a sense Daphne was right, being next in line for the Greengrass empire was tiring, very tiring, Astoria should know, especially when you had too many estates to run and not enough time to learn how to run them. Some days Astoria wished she could abdicate her birthright as easily as Daphne had.

But ladies of good breeding never dishonored their birthrights, and she'd been taught to respect her family legacy from childhood

"no, this isn't good, I'll have to talk to the sales lady about this" Astoria said again to nobody in particular, once again stepping of the outfit she was trying on and returning to her robe, then conjuring a chair, she moved up to the shoes, feeling a bit naughty to be trying on stilettoes in nothing but her green lace underwear.

but then again, she was alone in her bedroom, she could do whatever she wanted "look at that, hmmm this one looks delightful" she almost moaned at the way her new gladiator style silver heels wrapped around her leg reaching almost her knee.

Trying not to think of the way her parents had been gently hinting at the possibility of retirement, she tried on another pair, blessed Morgana she'd barely graduated from Hogwarts that spring, she was too young to take over for them.

Shaking the thoughts away Astoria danced to the song as she took off her silk robe and twirled before her mirror, holding a blue dress to her chest and modeling on her sides, loving the heels, delighted at how nice the ensemble looked. Once again entirely comfortable with her own body.

Meanwhile…Draco Malfoy, was a having a few uncomfortable problems of his own, the first obviously being that he got the wrong window of Greengrass Mansion when trying to look for Daphne, the second was that, her little sister (well not so little now if what his manhood was begging him to do was any indication), was giving him a show worthy of a strip club (he should go, he really should, he wasn't a peeping tom, or a pervert, but damn he also wasn't a saint and Daphne's little sister, she would tempt a monk with the little strip number she was doing) his disillusionment was bound to be noticed soon and oh shit, she was trying on another pair of fuck-me heels, Draco suppressed a groan as he imagined what it would feel like to run his hand up that pair of golden legs that little Greengrass kept stretching and flexing in front of that three way mirror.

Dammit to hell she was his friend's sister, when did Daphne's little porcelain doll of a sister turn into another type of doll entirely? The last time he'd seen Astoria she'd been a slip of a thing, wearing glittery headbands in her hair and knitting good luck bracelets for him and the rest of Daphne's friends, she'd been a child of fifteen when he graduated, definitely not the same leggy brunette he was ogling.

Astoria untied the straps of her heeled sandals and move towards a pair of long leather mid-thigh heels that made Draco really groan, _this was definitely the wrong time to discover he had a shoe fetish._

And of course Astoria heard him "whoever you are, come out please" she said in her most civil tone, calmly reaching for her robe and tying it around her waist "I heard you groan, come out or I swear I'll scream and wake my father", other girls would have panicked, other girls would have alerted the guards, some other girl would have been terrified of being spied on, but Astoria Greengrass was a lady, and ladies always kept their cool under every circumstance. No matter their state of undress.

Draco almost felt relieved that she'd caught him, almost, because you know he was still caught, but if she could be casual then so could he, dropping the disillusionment charm, he smirked "in my defense I thought this was Daphne's room" was all he said, unapologetically crossing his arms over his chest "Ever been told to close the windows when you get dressed little Greengrass?" He taunted smirking

"And I told papa that he was being paranoid when he had Daph and I switch bedrooms, serves me right" Astoria muttered to herself as a reply.

And despite the ridiculous situation, minutes later she began to laugh, still not making any move to cover herself with anything more than the silk robe she had on "I swear this is the fifth time someone comes to my window looking for Daphne" she sniggered shaking her head "I seriously though that the wards outside had it covered, but apparently even our best wards are attuned to your aura" then she went to the window and held out her hand trying to hold in her mirth "A pleasure to make your acquaintance again heir Malfoy"

Like pureblood etiquette dictated, Draco took her hand and dropped a kiss in the back of her palm, holding her hand in such an intimate way that the touch of his lips on her skin sent shivers of longing trough her body "Believe me miss Greengrass, after what I just saw, the pleasure is definitely all mine"

Astoria blushed, his sly look making her feel like she was about to do something dangerous "I'm sure you have seen better" she remarked off handedly "you are Draco Malfoy after all"

She was still leaning in the window sill, affording him a nice view of her lace clad chest trough her partially open robe "Astoria, you don't want to hear how I planned to answer that question" he groaned again

Sensing he was telling the truth she shook her head and was about to open her mouth with a reply before the shrill sound of a Phoenix cry siren pierced the air, resounding all through the property and around the gardens "blessed Morgana you did activate the wards, all of them apparently" Astoria grumbled "this what I get for not telling the handsome dark-magic user that climbed up to my window to go home when I had a chance"

"Greengrass, not to sound like a Gryffindor but Invite me in already!" Draco hissed slamming his fist on the protective charm that surrounded Astoria's window "your father is one of the best duelists in Britain, if he finds me here I'll be dead meat and I would rather not be killed tonight thank you very much"

Panicked Astoria nodded, using the enchanted bracelet on her wrist to roughly pull him through the open window "Father is coming! quick I know where he won't find you" she said hearing the sound of her father's telltale cane in the distance

"What the bloody he…" Draco murmured trying to recover from the hit he'd taken when he stumbled into the ground after shoving his tall body through her window, but Astoria was already at work, pulling him up and pushing him down on her bed "well, well if you wanted to have me in bed, all you had to do was ask porcelain" he smirked using his old childhood nickname for her

"Oh hush Malfoy, I need you to be quiet, father will know if something is amiss in this room if I try to hide you, because unlike Daph, my bedroom is never a mess, the only way he won't notice is if I do this" and with that Astoria Greengrass opened her closet and began pulling out dresses upon dresses, taffeta and sequins, organza and lace "Now stay still will you?" She begged him before throwing the dresses in her bed, piling them on top of his body and covering him completely, making it look as though the lump in her bed was just clothes and gowns she'd been trying on

Draco didn't dare move when minutes later the voice of Hyperion Greengrass filtered roughly to his ears, the man was sharp, questioning Astoria on the alarm trigger and if she'd seen anything, opening her closet and bathroom and even sniffing the air for some sign of foul play (of course the only thing one could smell in Astoria's bedroom was the heady scent of her unicorn tears perfume, but her father still sniffed)

When he finally was gone, Astoria locked the door and rescued Draco from suffocation "A little warning would have been nice" he sneered when she tried not to smirk "I almost died under so much bloody taffeta"

"Better death by taffeta than by my father, did Daphne's ever tell you that he once caught Theo hiding in her closet wearing only a loincloth?" She told him quietly pushing her ear to the door to check that the sound of her father's cane was gone "that's when he decided she should switch bedrooms with me, now at least the bondage parties with Theo will have to be in his house"

"She did tell me" he replied watching as Daphne little sister waved her wand to clear her room of any mess, leaving him in a clutter-less bed once more " why do you think I was afraid of your father? Nott had to dodge two imperious and one crucio that night" Draco shuddered "And with you looking like you do under that robe, he'd have gone straight for the killing curse if he found me"

Again Astoria blushed, but held her head up with pride, she wasn't a snappish Gryffindor, or an oblivious Ravenclaw "If he really had found you, I'd have taken your death as a compliment to my beauty" she replied summoning her three way mirror again and changing the color of her robe "After all I have my vanity"

He hadn't expected her to have a sly edge under her fragile exterior, that's for sure at least "You've grown up a lot Astoria" Draco murmured throwing his head back and crossing his arms under his head, sprawling himself comfortably on her bed "Any other day, I would be taking up the challenge of that pretty little mouth you seem so sure you can tempt me with" he admitted freely, observing the pureblood brunette from his vantage point

"Me? Tempting you?" Astoria shivered at his words but that was the only sign that showed she was as affected by him as he was of her "I'm not one of your easy lays Malfoy, however handsome you are Mr Window-Spy, I'm still a Greengrass" She replied "if you dared touch me, there'd be hell to pay"

"I know" he shot back with a grin "But wouldn't it be fun while it lasted?" Draco challenged "And trust me, you'd be willing"

He was right, if he kissed her, she probably would kiss back, Astoria was a well-mannered lady, but she wasn't made of stone and right now, there was a leather jacket wearing bad boy sprawled on her bed, darn her manners but she really wanted to take up his challenge, too bad she was a nature born Slytherin and not a Gryffindor, she looked out for herself first "But you won't do it, not today" She said trying to sound confident "and I know why"

"Do tell little Greengrass, how are you so sure I'm not about to shag you in the next five minutes?" He shot back crudely, making her flinch slightly at his words "enlighten me"

"Because _you are angry,_ trust me I know that face you are making Draco, it's plastered all across Daphne's school pictures" she replied cunningly changing the subject "let me guess? Your father is at it again" she ventured

"Not a bad try, but then again, whenever I'm pissed off it's always my father"

"Or Potter" Astoria laughed remembering her childhood, then she offered Draco a comforting smile "if it's any good, I understand the pressure, my father isn't that different from yours" then she heaved a heavy sigh "being the heir to an ancient and noble house sometimes can be…"

"Bloody irritating" Draco finished for her, once again remembering how Daphne had taken advantage of the fact she wasn't an only child to officially abdicate the title of Greengrass heir, he'd never thought much about it before but now he realized that Astoria was the one that the title would have fallen to after her sister renounced her birthright "Draco do this, Draco do that, schmooze this ministry official, kiss this dark wizard's ass, don't hex Potter Draco, blah blah blah, bloody irritating" Draco hissed angrily "but this year the stupid Beltane celebrations take the prize"

"Try tuning him out once in a while, it's what I do when father has a fit" she offered as a consolation

"Might not be a bad idea, hey what are you doing?" Draco asked when she disappeared into her walk in closet closing the doors behind her "I never said you could leave!"

"I'm getting ready for bed you prat" came the response from inside the closet "do you have any idea of what time it is? Some of us need sleep to be able to function properly in the morning" Astoria remarked coming out wearing a pair of airy pajamas

"I think I liked you more in lingerie" he shot back sardonically, eyes raking all over her cotton clad body, like a child who's being denied candy "would please me more"

"I know" she replied with a sly smile "but I'm a pureblood, and we don't submit to anyone's wishes, only our own"

Draco laughed "I told you already, I could make you want it" then he moved to the side of the bed and with his wand, rapidly transfigured the shimmering lace bedding into something more masculine "Now that's more like it" he said satisfied, Astoria stamped her dainty foot down at the change, glaring at him hatefully, but he was in front of her then, taking her by the waist and pulling her flush against him, making her heart thud wildly "See, not so sly now are you?" he whispered in her ear feeling the way her breath hitched in her chest before releasing her "And since I'm going to be stuck here until your father deactivates the alarm wards in the morning, I might as well get comfortable" he said motioning to her bed, now covered in black Egyptian Cotton bedding

Astoria took a deep breath trying to rein in her composure "If you must" she shrugged, he didn't say anything when she used her wand to summon some clothes for him to sleep in, or when she pointed to the bathroom with a defeated sigh

"Good girl Porcelain" he smirked patting her head like a puppy, Astoria wisely kept her cool and moved away, knowing that the joke ultimately would be on him

"try not to change the color of my shower curtain" she muttered when he was out of earshot, silently getting into bed, her pride not allowing her to let him have it for himself, arghh the prat.

Snuggling deeper under the black bed sheets she heard him come out of the bathroom, wordlessly turning off the lights and getting into bed with her.

So he had his pride too, oh dammit, why couldn't she be stuck with a Gryffindor? at least those where chivalrous enough.

And after that, the following half an hour was pure torture for both of them, the tension was palpable and not just because of their situation. Under the covers, Draco felt the subtle heat of Astoria's body simmer, her beautiful frame just a touch away, despite the fact that Astoria had a king size bed that could house an army and still have space, he felt as though she wasn't that far away from his outstretched arm.

But darn she was still Daphne's precious baby sis, he knew first hand that those two told each other everything, mainly because Daphne was crazy as hell and Astoria often provided the common sense (and occasional bail money) that kept Daph out of trouble, in fact that's how Draco remembered Astoria when they were younger. A dainty little fairy eagerly bribing prefects in order to get Daph out of any fix, trailing behind Daphne's tall frame, filtering in and out of the Slytherin common room.

He'd let the kid tag along with his group, but he'd treated her as an afterthought, a first year that was only allowed near him because she had Daph and Theo wrapped around her finger. But now she was grown up and he wanted Astoria Greengrass badly…Merlin help him, Daphne was going to hex him to oblivion if he touched her. He had his self-preservation to consider.

Unlike him, Astoria was fidgeting, moving and rolling, trying to find a comfortable position that would enable her to forget about her sister's best friend, whom she'd never really felt any attraction for, but suddenly wanted to seduce, blessed Morgana, what an awkward situation

Astoria remembered that during her childhood there'd been times her elder sister made her feel inadequate next to her older friends, chief of them the arrogant Draco Malfoy, who'd barely taken notice of her trailing behind Daphne's robe during her first years at Hogwarts Academy, as a gangly little girl, she'd barely reached Daphne's shoulder and her face had never quite looked anything other than childlike, not with her straight brown hair tied in ribbons and her feet almost permanently clad in dainty slippers, Nott himself told Astoria's that "it wasn't her fault she'd been the most adorable teenager in Slytherin" when the elder kids attended Hogwarts, funny that when she did come into her own beauty at age sixteen, Daphne pulled her abdication stunt and Astoria had been left with no time to bother about boys. Her few romantic experiences had been bland at best and even then Astoria had resigned herself to the boring future life as a pureblood lady was bound to offer her.

"Father wants me to organize a benefit party for the French ministry" she spoke without thinking, breaking the morbid silence "Mother and Daphne won't help and I don't know if I can handle that event, on top of our Beltane celebrations"

Draco stared at the ceiling, not looking at her side of the bed when he spoke "my aunt Bellatrix is pressuring my father, they both want me to drop college and take a seat in the Wizarding parliament"

"My mother declined the offer to speak at the Wizard-pro-Goblin annual summer conference, Millicent Bulstrode asked me to do it in her place" Astoria whispered turning to her side to look across the bed, into Draco's face "I said I would"

"Lord Parkinson still refuses to drop the issue of my broken engagement to Pansy, this year I think he's planning on taking it to court" he whispered back, turning to his side to look at Astoria too, her calm green eyes holding no judgment, only understanding

"Rita Skeeter published a terrible article about me and my sister last week, she called me a "beautiful mechanical doll" even tried to insinuate I was made of clockwork instead of flesh" she continued on, not making any comments on what he'd said, there was something about the darkness of the room, or the closeness one feels when sleeping in the same bed, that made it easier for them to confess some of their inner worries

"My mother wants grandchildren, she nags about it every day, it scares me" he again didn't say anything just waited for her next confession "I don't know if I'll ever be a good father"

"Sometimes Daphne can embarrass me, not long ago I hosted a tea party for my friends and she made Blaise Zabini dress up as Grindewald" Astoria muttered noticing that with each turn they took airing out their thoughts, Draco moved a little closer to the center of the bed…and she did too "Drusilla Marchbanks still refuses to speak to me because of that and I'm scared she'll tell her aunt to stop doing business with our family"

Draco gave her a thoughtful nod, he'd heard about that silly prank from Daph, but he hadn't considered how thoughtless his friend's act could have seemed to Astoria "Witch Weekly wants to name me bachelor of the year, but I have to decline the so called "honor" because the darn reporter keeps comparing me to Potter every time she comes near me"

"My family has twenty properties scattered around the world, I'm expected to manage them all when I come of age" Astoria let out an unladylike snort "And father just bought another castle yesterday" they had reached the center of the bed now, with her last words and Astoria held her breath to see what he would do now that there wasn't anywhere to move to

"My godfather broke his hip, nobody knows it, but it's the reason I am home early" Without taking his eyes off her, he reached out and pulled her closer, bringing his two arms around her and tucking her as close to him as he could, Astoria didn't say anything she just moved her head, letting it rest on top of his chest "he sent me an owl, and I didn't think twice before I took the floo right back to Britain"

"I have to go to a banquet at Madame Bones house this weekend, your mother will be there" Astoria yawned half asleep "I don't know how I'll look at her in the face if we are forced to make conversation"

But Draco didn't reply, her voice had already soothed him to sleep.

The next morning was the first time Draco Malfoy experienced the novelty of waking up next to a girl he hadn't actually shagged, he remembered the previous night quite clearly and looking at the razor straight brown hair of his bed mate, he realized that he didn't regret not finding Daphne after all, if only to get reacquainted with a girl he didn't know he was already acquaintances with.

She was beautiful, he would admit at least that to himself, he'd discovered in one night that Astoria Greengrass wasn't only a sly little fox, she had a patient streak, and a strong non-judgmental policy when it came to people around her.

He hadn't let go of her all night (another oddity because he wasn't really a touchy-feely sort of person) so when Astoria woke up, feeling warm and cozy, smelling the masculine scent of mint and dragon ash, she knew exactly where she was

"You are warm" Draco murmured as an explanation when she turned her leaf green eyes on him "I'm never warm when I sleep, don't look too much into it"

Astoria smiled slightly snuggling deeper into his side, choosing once again to keep her thoughts to herself and let him think what he wanted "of course Draco, I don't think it's something we should dissect either" she murmured sleepy "father must have taken the wards down already, do you want me to move?" She sighed, putting the proverbial ball in his court

"No, its fine" Draco replied shaking his head slightly at the bizarre turn of events "go back to sleep Astoria"

Later when the Greengrass butler knocked on Astoria's door with lunch, Draco snuck out of her house discreetly, both of them agreeing never to talk about that night again in the future (especially to Daphne), going separate ways as soon as they could.

Still the following Saturday, when Narcissa mentioned going to Madame Bones soiree, Draco surprised his mother by agreeing to escort her without the slightest need to cajole him into it. And when the Malfoy matriarch noticed her son's interest in a particular young lady in attendance, she heaved a thought to the godess, silently praying that her hopes for grandchildren would finally start coming true.

Astoria on the other hand took the arm of her father and smiled when Draco walked in, raising an eyebrow at his mother, Draco smirked back and Astoria motioned with her eyes to Theo Nott on the other side of the room, Draco shook his head slightly, both having a silent conversation that consisted only in facial gestures, it felt like a secret language.

"See that man behind us papa, I think he might be the only pureblood man in your acquaintance that you could ever convince me to marry" Astoria said to her father once he'd finished talking to another business associate

"Draco Malfoy?" Hyperion chuckled under his breath looking at the young man in question, still entirely ignorant of what had transpired under his own roof a few nights before "Dear daughter I can't decide if I should be impressed by your ambition or frightened by how far it reaches"

"Think whatever you will" she shrugged, looking at her father with a decisive glint in her eye "just be sure that I'll either marry him, or not marry at all"

Her father gave her a patronizing nod "I'm sure you will my child, just remember to name your first born after me, when you give Draco heirs" (one day, years in the future, during the christening of his first grandson, Hyperion Greengrass would come to regret that conversation)

When surly Draco Malfoy singled out Astoria over the rest of the pureblood girls to converse with, she couldn't help but mimicking her father's patronizing look and shooting it right back at him

This feeling of triumph of course disappeared at Draco's first words "Are you still wearing green lace Astoria?" Draco taunted in a low voice, making her blush "I wonder if that pretty outfit is hiding more silver ribbons?" She was wearing tailored black pants that made her legs look endless and a navy long sleeved blouse, perfectly put together…except Draco knew exactly how she looked like in her knickers

"Black silk and red lace since you are so curious" she shot back, pasting a fake smile on her face, pretending the where having a normal conversation "to match my shoes of course" she motioned to her feet sticking out her left leg for him to see she was wearing yet again another pair of black fuck-me heels (yup, he'd definitely developed a fetish), the exact same pair that made him lose it the other night

"I wonder if Daphne knows that her precious baby sis enjoys wearing sexy schoolgirl lingerie" he smirked darkly, his eyes darkening in memory, but smiling affably and keeping up the pretense of respectability in case people stared too long at them

"The same way her best friend loves to watch said baby sis undress?" Astoria replied sardonically "no, I don't think she does"

"Good for her, what Daph doesn't know won't hurt her" And the glint in Draco's eyes promised something dangerous "don't you think Astoria?"

She simply shook her head ignoring his jab "how was the visit from Witch Weekly's reporter, did she get that anonymous photo of Harry Potter being utterly nagged in public by Granger and Weasley?"

"She might have mentioned something about it" Draco nodded "and since we are on the subject did you hear about my old friend Vincent Goyle, turns out he's very interested in goblin-wizard etiquette"

"Yes Millicent was very excited to talk about him, right after she called to tell me my presence in the summer conference was no longer needed" Astoria's eyes softened "I know we agreed not to talk about it, but thank you"

"Likewise Greengrass, likewise" then he turned his eyes away from her looking straight at their parents when he asked his next question "Astoria if I told you I won't touch you, would you leave your window open tonight?"

"I probably would, why heir Malfoy? Are you promising not to touch me?" She challenged quietly knowing quite well he had his loopholes

"I happened to like the conversation the other night and outside your room there are a million places I could shag you in" Draco shrugged "I'm telling you I won't touch you because as you put it "there would be hell to pay" if I did, and I have my self-preservation" he said shooting her father a long glance, shuddering at the memory of Theo's last encounter with Greengrass senior

"Very well Malfoy, I'll leave my window open and who knows" Astoria said smiling quietly "I might even go lingerie shopping tomorrow too"

It was the start of a very long courtship, one plagued with secret sleepovers at night and proper chaperoned meetings during the day.

The world of course only got to know half of their relationship, the part of their love that was open for the inspection of the pureblood elite and Daily prophet front pages. The half that depicted a traditional pureblood arrangement, the world saw their reserved stances towards each other as just another proof that their relationship was merely a business arrangement between the Malfoy and Greengrass family, boring, scripted and oh so predictable.

But nobody knew of what happened when Astoria and Draco where alone, of the petty fights for control and fiery kisses, of the way Draco bought Astoria shoes instead of flowers whenever he wanted her to fall at his feet or how she had a personal tab in London's best lingerie shop (because she too could bribe him to get her way) there where the conversations they had with facial expressions and the secret worries they whispered to each other in the dead of the night. Nobody knew.

And maybe that's why he married her.

**An: this sort of ran away with me, hope you liked my take on your prompt (I still firmly believe that the world needs more Drastoria), I gave the prompt a slightly diferent direction, and came this close to writing some smut in it, but I did want to keep the rating of this fic K so, I hoped you still enjoyed what I did**


	4. Growing trees with interlacing branches

**Growing trees with interlacing branches **

Astoria was fourteen when she had her first real conversation with Draco Malfoy, she never expected to end up dancing with him that night during the yule ball, but as it was, you could always trace their few subsequent contacts, to the only acquaintance they had in common.

Gregory Goyle.

When it came to Astoria, her relationship with Malfoy's right hand man was passive at best, he wasn't really Astoria's friend, not in the sense where she sat with him at lunch or shared her personal thoughts, oh no, but they did share a few classes, which, in retrospective, forced them to work together on more than one occasion.

All Hogwarts knew that when it came to the Slytherins, none where more "academically challenged" (aka, stupid and brutish) than Crabbe and Goyle, but while pudgy Crabbe managed to only get held back one year on certain classes, Goyle hadn't been so lucky with Arithmancy, transfigurations and ancient runes (to use his words "studying was for nerds..and Ravenclaw scum"), which was how Gregory Goyle, a fourth year, ended up taking second year classes with Astoria and the rest of the Slytherins of her age.

Astoria could have gone without the friendship of Slytherin's scariest gorilla, but it seemed that when it came to being paired up for joint assignments, her classmates obviously had it against her, pairing up at lightning speed and sticking that mumbling brute to the only girl in class he wasn't liable to bully (Because Astoria had Daphne who was friends with Pansy, who was dating "prince Draco" aka Goyle's boss).

As the madness with the triwizard tournament went down, Goyle began, unconsciously taking the blame whenever one of their assignments got botched, grumbling and cursing their professors for not teaching "him" better, granting Astoria total absolution for her mistakes in the process, Astoria knew it wasn't intentional because he never seemed terribly aware that he was doing it.

Maybe he was used to it, she supposed, after all when one didn't have much brains it was normal to assume that it was your idiocy that screwed things up in class and not your partner's, especially when said partner was a lowly second year. Nevertheless fourteen year old Astoria was always left with the feeling that she owed Gregory Goyle something. After all she came out of her classes blissfully unscathed and he got tons of homework (that he obviously would not even try to do himself) whenever SHE screwed up their runes.

And as a Greengrass, Astoria HATED, to feel indebt to someone, that's probably what made her forcefully pull Goyle's robe after watching him get rejected for the twentieth time in a row a week before the yule ball and told him in no uncertain terms that she was now going to be his date, to save him from further embarrassment.

She'd been so young back then, subtlety goading Goyle to take her to the yule ball purely out of selfish motives, wanting the glory of claiming to be the only second year in Hogwarts to land an invitation, promising to make him look handsome and clever, hoping he was dumb enough to take the bait.

He did agree of course, Astoria was nothing if not good at brokering win-win deals to benefit herself and get what she wanted

Eventually it turned out that apart from being a brute and an idiot, Gregory Goyle was also a lazy clothpole, which did make Astoria's job easier, because he walked when she told him to walk and let her do whatever she wanted with his allowance as soon as she mentioned ordering his dress robes. For Astoria, working with Goyle was as easy as leading a sheep.

On the day of the ball, while Malfoy kept complaining about Pansy and his hair, Crabbe sulked over not having a date and everyone stressed over their clothes, Astoria knew Goyle (for once) felt confident about himself while eating his mountain of food in the common room. She after all had handled everything, from the perfect dress suit to make him look less frightening, to the corsage he would give her once they arrived downstairs, the second year girl micromanaged their night to the very last minute and Goyle seemed glad he didn't have to do anything other than show up and look good.

She remembered prince Draco's mocking "You coming Goyle?" while Pansy Parkinson laughed like a harpy at his side (because at the time that's all Astoria knew them to be, Prince Draco and Pratty Parkinson, the ruling couple in the Slytherin house), but neither waited for his reply because like everyone else, they assumed he was going stag with Crabbe, she even saw Goyle clench his fists in anger, knowing everyone in Hogwarts was probably laughing at him behind his back too (especially his friends) must have been a hit to his inflated ego

"Meh let them get there early anyway Gregory, you just wait until I'm done with you" a not-yet-ready Astoria exclaimed angrily peeking out from her place behind a big chair in the common room, running up to her dorm and showing up minutes with a book of beauty spells and a box of labeled "Handsome Monsieur potions& more" honestly you would think Goyle would have been a bit wary to put himself in the hands of a second year witch but this was Daphne's little sister and Goyle wasn't very smart to begin with. So much like all the men in Astoria's life he let her have her way.

To be fair Astoria was fourteen, pushy but not mean so she simply sat him in a chair, mumbled some spells, doused him in some potions and sent him to get dressed, it wasn't a hassle, not when, by the time he was done, he'd given her enough time to get ready as well.

Astoria remembered that night, because it was the first time she sat with the older Slytherins, Goyle ended up looking as good as he ever would, in black dress robes that disguised his bulging stomach and brought the attention a little too obviously to his bulging arms, enough hair potions to make his scraggly brown hair look nice and silky and a dose of clear-eye charms to make him at least SEEM intelligent, Astoria wouldn't deny she was proud of herself, she'd turned a meaty gorilla into...a good looking gorilla that could pass for a human.

She herself was wearing a gown that made her look older, designed of a shimmering blue-green fabric that changed colors under certain lights, her hair (let down in waves) sporting a halo of green gemstones and the trademark Greengrass choker in her neck, back then she'd felt happy with what she accomplished in such a short time.

Goyle's effort to look good certainly didn't go unnoticed by his boss (and the older Slytherin girls to an extent) who nodded at him as tough he'd finally done something right and proceeded to order him around. Astoria let them be, happily accepting the offers to dance that came from the odd Slytherin boy and the dashing Dumstrang students. And then...Draco Malfoy himself asked her to dance.

He did it mainly because he wanted to get a read on the brat that fooled everyone into believing Goyle was boyfriend material (she played her part so well, smiling and laughing, as tough Gregory Goyle was the most charming partner ever) "So Greengrass, who would have thought Goyle liked second years"

"Yes, its strange isn't it? I always thought he was more interested in Millicent Bulstrode than in me" She lied letting him twirl her around "of course Gregory must have told you that he only brought me as his date to make you and Pansy look good, he thought it would please you" her voice was beautifully diplomatic, always saying what she knew people wanted to hear, once again painting Goyle as something he wasn't and Draco saw through her act

"And what about you? Do you think I'm pleased little Greengrass?" He taunted looking straight into her blue eyes "because it seems to me that all Goyle did was bring a prettier girl than Pansy just so he could rub it in my face"

"Maybe he didn't think it through, after all, like you said, I'm only a second year, insignificant at best" Astoria tried to avoid pointing out that it didn't take much to be considered prettier than Pansy Parkinson " my sister Daphne is here too and you don't seem to have a problem with her or her partner"

Blonde, statuesque Daphne, who'd spent better part of the night dancing with Theodore Nott and glaring at her little sister "Daphne knows her place, you on the other hand don't know yours..." Draco threatened

"I on the other hand consider this dance over" Astoria said noticing that the music had thankfully stopped, smiling affably she made a curtsey "it was a wonderful dance heir Malfoy, I'll try to be more mindful of my place in the future" She said politely, although her voice held the slightest hint of laughter in it, as did the way she pursed her lips and her eyes sparkled with held-back mirth

"Be sure that you do" Draco ordered, but Astoria's back was already turned, gliding towards Goyle, once again slipping into her role of the perfect ballroom partner

He was sixteen and a world away from her, looking at things through dark-art tinted glasses, but it was the first time he noticed Astoria's eyes.

After the triwizard ball Draco noticed them again, mostly because for all his buff and intimidation, Goyle developed a small familiarity with the little blue eyed second year, he ignored it out of disinterest, because as long as Goyle did his job and didn't embarrass him, Draco barely paid him a modicum of attention, yet every once in a while, Goyle could be found hovering like a harbinger of doom over the second year Slytherins and those where the times Draco felt specially annoyed with him.

Astoria as pointed out before, could have gone without Gregory Goyle's presence in her life, but neither did she actively discourage his hovering, he was a brute and a Neanderthal, but as things started becoming worrisome in magical Britain, Astoria welcomed the wide berth people gave her and her friends just by virtue of being "sort of acquaintances" with the school's second greatest bully.

Goyle was nice to her (in his own way) during the classes they shared and she was nice to him in her own way too (like the way zookeepers were nice to domesticated killer grizzlies), so if the big brute formed some sort of weird attachment to her, she wasn't going to question it, not when he showed his interest by silently walking next to her during hogsmade trips and intimidating any big Gryffindor that tried to scare the younger year snakes.

By the time Astoria's third year started, Goyle became a fixture in her life as constant as her sister. When he wasn't trailing Malfoy or practicing quidich, he had a habit of drifting in her direction and staring at her (Daphne said it was creepy) sometimes even going as far as to exchange a few non-threatening sentences with her before starting to spout Malfoy-loving propaganda to the rest of her year, but Astoria didn't mind, she liked to think it was his strange way of showing friendliness (she summarized Goyle's mind worked that way and wasn't capable of anything else beyond it).

When Umbridge started the whole "Inquisitor squad" thing, Goyle was the first one to covertly push Astoria to the back of the Slytherin common room "you are not going to be part of this inqui-sy-tar thing" he'd mumbled crossing his beefy arms over his chest when she tried to protest "You stay quiet Astie, that wo-u-man isn't good" he'd said as firmly as he could, dragging Daphne away from her friends and glaring at her "You! You take care of her" he ordered before turning around and signing up on Umbridge's squad thing with Draco and Crabbe

It was around the end of the year that Draco began to notice that Goyle often pulled the tiny girl away from the "little kids" table and shoved her hard in the lap of her older sister, Draco even joined in the laughter sometimes, and while everyone considered it just another day in the life of Goyle-the-bully, only Daphne seemed to realize that it was Goyle's backhanded attempt at keeping Astoria safe, after all, even a dimwit like him knew that the dark lord was recruiting Slytherins from the younger years, and it was a given that if Astoria was seen sitting with the fifth years, in between Goyle and Daphne, she'd be left alone.

Draco saw Astoria too, drifting in and out of the peripheral of his vision, sometimes with Goyle, sometimes with Daphne, quietly skirting the line between blood traitor and death eater.

He never told anyone but he was the only one that saw Goyle hug Astoria on the train platform that day at the end of their fifth year. He'd been impatient, cursing at Crabbe for letting Potter get away when he saw them in the distance, it was the first time Draco Malfoy saw Goyle show any type of caring towards another human being other than Draco himself, and also the moment he understood that the Greengrass sisters wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts the following year.

Astoria was fifteen the last time she saw Draco Malfoy, standing like a lone snake in the distance, watching with haunted eyes as Goyle gave Astoria one last bone-crushing embrace. For a moment he looked lost, envious maybe, she saw the way he looked at them, so sad and pained, that at one moment she wondered if he was thinking about Goyle's future as a death eater and what they were all giving up in the war...

Draco was seventeen and from his vantage point, he saw Astoria's watery eyes meet his. Reminding him that for all their faults, once upon a time older Slytherins used to pledge to protect their own against any threat. It was the first time he ever felt he'd failed someone he didn't know.

The memory of that little third year dressed in periwinkle green, saying goodbye to everything she knew, would haunt him for a long time. Because that day on the train platform Draco met her eyes and knew that much like that little snake life as he'd known it would be over too once he got home.

The following year, the dark lord was back, too many people disappearing, Draco took the dark mark and no mention of the Greengrass family was heard among them, both death eaters and members of the order ignored where the wealthy family vanished to and only the dark lord with his endless thirst for power cared about their whereabouts. Goyle never mentioned Astoria again after he took the dark mark with Crabbe and Draco, but Malfoy knew, that if he himself could not manage to forget about the little blue eyed brunette, then probably, neither could Goyle. Then the Great War happened and by the time he saw her again...everything had changed

Astoria's family fled from Britain at the first sign of trouble, the wealthy answered to nobody and Astoria's parents did what had to be done to protect their children, absconding with their daughters to America and as far away from the Potter boy as they could. Astoria and her elder sister enrolled in Salem Institute for Witches under fake names, siphoning as much information as they could from the daughters of the American ministry officials, and reading about the war in the Looking Glass Gazette (An American version of the daily Prophet) watching telly and dying inside little by little. By the time Astoria returned to Scotland and received Goyle's letter, everything had changed.

It was a simple note, but it might as well have been a novel considering Gregory's literacy problems

_"I will never forget the preety girl that dressed me up like tha cover of Witch Weeakerly because saw haulf of tha school reject me, if this reaches yu Astie, I'm glud you are alive" -Gregory Goyle _

And tough Astoria didn't know him well, she still broke down and cried

The next time Draco Malfoy saw her, she was twenty, clutching a large bouquet of peonies and gently putting them on Goyle's grave, he didn't recognize her at first, not wearing those sunglasses over her eyes and clothing better fit for someone muggle, but the moment he approached her, he knew.

"Did you know him well?" He asked, startling her from her contemplation, Astoria turned to look at him, surprised to find him in the Goyle family mausoleum after all those years, he no longer looked like the idol from her friends' fantasies, his blond hair looked longer, shaggier, he had circles under his eyes and while he certainly appeared to be as handsome as he'd been at seventeen, Astoria could tell that the years after the war hadn't been kind to him

"No, I guess I didn't, not really, at least not in the ways that mattered" she confessed looking down at the marble headstone with Goyle's name carved in it "but he was a friend"

Draco accepted her answer, feeling quite the same way about his former goon, he too, hadn't known Goyle, when one's parents where death eaters, any friendship they forged was superficial at best "it might not offer you much comfort, but I did I try to stop him, I know it doesn't excuse anything but I didn't order him to cast the Fiendfyre, I told him not to"

"I know Draco you don't have to say anything" she said cutting him off with a half shrug "and well, Gregory wasn't the greatest boy in Hogwarts, he probably caused quite a few deaths too and died trying to cause more, but he...he protected me and my sister, in his own way, he kept us from being targets, and I owe him, I owe him flowers at least" Astoria explained motioning to the peonies, knowing that she was by far the only person that remembered to visit Goyle's grave

"Just like in the yule ball" Draco pointed out, when Astoria looked surprised by his admission he shrugged "Goyle told me what you did, one time he got drunk on firewhiskey, said that you forced him to sit down through four hours of stinky beauty spells" putting his hands in his pockets he kicked a rock in her direction "he used to look almost normal when he forced himself to talk to you"

"Normal for an imperious obsessed death eater you mean?" She said remembering the cruelty Goyle often boasted about having inflicted, Draco winced at her cold tone, looking away with noticeable shame "Sorry, that was crass, you don't really look like the Draco Malfoy I knew, so it's easy to forget...about your, um you know" she mumbled embarrassed, casually pointing to his arm, where the dark mark lay hidden underneath layers of sleeves

"Well then you must be the only one capable of it, these days, I swear if only I too could forget what I did, then looking in the mirror might be easier each morning" he wasn't even in wizard robes, dressed in non-descript pants and shirt, a jacket slung casually over his shoulder like a muggle, yet he'd never looked more like an aged war veteran, than when he stood there openly admitting to something that he'd seldom voiced out loud "the nightmares of what I did still manage to haunt me at night, but what where we supposed to say to the dark lord when he was killing people left and right? "Sorry master, I really didn't sign up to assassinate Dumbledore, I'm just here for the free dark magic course" Merlin, I didn't even know I could say no"

"I don't know if it was easier or worse for people like me, you are the first person I meet that talks openly about it" Astoria whispered with shame " Everyone pretends it didn't happen, my own sister acts like the war is only a figment of my imagination, my father is proud, infuriatingly proud Draco, he says that surviving the war with our family intact just proves how much better the Greengrass bloodline is" And Draco understood she wasn't talking to him, no, her slightly hysterical tone hinted at something she'd wanted to just get off her chest for a long time " better than who? The mudbloods that fought our war for us? The blood traitors that lost half their families for standing up to a madman? Or the purebloods like Goyle that got killed because they thought Voldemort was the path to greatness? Tell me who exactly we are supposed to be better than, because I lost all my friends to the avada kedavra and right now I don't feel better than any of them"

"I don't either" And Draco no longer saw the little second year that had tricked Goyle into taking her to a fancy party, or the silent third year nervously keeping her head down whenever he passed her in the hallways, no this time he saw a young woman who's views about pureblood society had been as challenged as his views on Dark Magic, so in an action uncharacteristic for him, he took her hand and squeezed it "Nobody should be proud of it, look at me, I made his life miserable for seven long years and Harry Potter still managed to save mine, I keep wondering where exactly I should go from there, but I can't come up with anything, hell I can't even bring myself to apologize to him without feeling like a hypocrite...I screwed up lives Astoria! Some people will never see their children again because of me, I intentionally singled out random classmates to die"

"Do you have nightmares about them too?" She wondered as tough he'd spoken her own thoughts out loud, four years after the final battle and she'd never told anyone about her night terrors, not even to her sister

"I hear their screams every night, begging me to stop hexing them, feel the ghosts of dead souls trying to crawl into my bed, calling my name, bursting from their graves to drag me to hell, some nights it gets so bad that I wake up in the dead of the night wishing they could do it, just to get it over with, but at least those nights are better than the ones that send me back to memories of Voldemort's reign of terror" Draco nodded "You? Do you dream about Goyle and the others when you are sleeping safe and sound in your pretty bed at home?"

"Yes, I see them dying one by one, even when I wasn't there, in all my dreams their dead bodies beg me not to leave, they beg and plead for me to stay, to please not to abandon them in Hogwarts, "why Astoria? Why didn't you try? I thought we were friends" the corpses always ask "why?", and I'm a coward because I don't answer...not even when Gregory asks the question" she dropped to the floor then, sitting in the ground by Goyle's grave, running her hands through the ground as tough she wished the dead to reach out and grab it "but I can't tell anyone, because nobody ever talks about it, everyone keeps judging me, I mean why should I be allowed to be sad? I'm a pureblood girl and I'm alive right? So obviously I'm not allowed to feel grief, not when the friends I grieve where so obviously the bad guys"

Draco dropped to the ground next to her and nodded in surprised understanding "nobody wants to remember the war now days, especially not with a pureblood and we can't even be honest amongst our own kind without feeling censorship from our parents" he sighed, running a hand through his hair "but if it helps Greengrass, you can always talk to me"

"You don't mind then? Me being such a bad sport about everything"

"Hell, this is the most honest conversation I've had in four years, of course I don't mind!" he shot back, lifting her chin with his fingers to meet her eyes "Don't ever apologize for your opinions, at least not to me"

"That's the nicest thing someone has ever said about me, thank you" And for the first time in a long while Astoria smiled "Do you want to eat something Draco? My house is a short apparition away"

He chuckled, as far as dinner invitations went, hers left much to be desired, but he agreed all the same "Might as well, the sun is almost setting" dusting himself off, he asked for her address and waited untill she'd dissaparated to follow her suit

Astoria lived in a big mansion north of Glasgow, he wasn't surprised by the sheer size of it, after all, as was traditional in pureblood societies, she'd probably been deeded a household of her own sometime in her teens, what did surprise him was that, for all intents and purposes, she lived alone. Fablegreen House was easily the same size as Malfoy Manor and tough Draco himself also chose to move out of his parents ancestral home as soon as the war was over, to him it seemed like a waste of great magnitude for a girl like Astoria to live so isolated.

She invited him for tea, and her house elves made a nice meal, they discussed the war at length that afternoon, him with his demons and her with her survivor guilt, they talked for what felt like hours, like broken pieces of a jigsaw puzzle left unfinished for years, opening up the wounds inflicted during their teenage years because they both finally found someone that shared their beliefs and doubts

They reminisced about Goyle and their own struggles with morality over their education years, about Daphne and Theo, now married and still defending the bigoted ideals of their parents, they talked about politics, magic, literature, in one night Astoria learned more about Draco Malfoy than she'd ever learned in years. And Draco realized that for all he claimed he wanted to be alone, actually talking to someone honestly felt as good as any pepper up potion.

That night when he left, Draco realized just how lonely she'd been since everything went down with Voldemort, it took a long talk with someone who barely knew him. To admit to himself that he missed having human contact, he'd been purposely isolating himself because he was afraid of another catastrophe, so much he forgot to live, and he told her as much.

So it wasn't surprising when after much deliberation, Astoria Greengrass decided to cautiously befriend Draco Malfoy. After all she might have been late when it came to Gregory, but Draco, he was still alive.

Draco really hated to feel like a project of hers. Mainly because her habit of micromanaging annoyed him to no end, she was quiet too, entirely too quiet actually, when she wasn't holding startling interesting conversations with him, she had a habit of "enjoying the silence" that drove him mad, he summarized she was the kind of girl that if she didn't have something meaningful or interesting to say, preferred not say anything at all but it was maddening all the same.

You see Draco had come to hate silence after Voldemort's defeat, it reminded him of wizards too scared to speak and empty streets filled with ghosts, he liked to fill the silences that followed him post-war with long hours the Wizarding-Goblin stock market and attending loud competitive quidich games, he enjoyed places with noise (not the Weasley kind of noise mind you, but purposeful, competitive noise) like dueling conventions and broomstick racing events, heck he'd even entered them a time or two

Astoria hated silence too, but her mind was less crowded than his, she never tried to fill her silences, she just transformed them into something she was familiar with. Drawing, knitting, making tea, working on her spellwork, reading, writing, planning, sewing, meditation, plotting Astoria did all those and tough Draco hated it when she sat next to him and refused to humor him with small talk, he endured it.

He endured a lot of things he didn't like about her, her micromanagement, her silences, her habit of visiting him at unholy hours in the mornings, the way she manipulated people (sometimes without even trying), her taste in music and good lord when she did give in to small talk, she was a terrible gossip. Draco didn't even know why he put up with her.

But put up with her he did, whenever she invited him for tea (another habit of hers he disliked because her house was a mausoleum of silence) he went anyway, whenever she asked if she could come with him to one broomstick racing game or other, he took her, in fact ever since Astoria started with her stupid "project" he'd been taking her to lots of places.

So what if she had opinions he liked, what if she was elegant and entirely too beautiful to be taken seriously when she voiced them to others, what if she laughed whenever he tried to insult her and clapped her hands whenever she got him to smile. He absolutely didn't like her!

Except he secretly did.

Therefore falling in love was easy, so very easy.

Astoria was always surrounded by people, she was the daily prophet's resident pretty face, the unmarried Greengrass girl, the sweetling, the rich heiress that had a habit of sponsoring new businesses with her money, inventors, designers, authors, architects, so many supplicants flocking to her on daily basis in order to win the favor of the Greengrass foundation, but they never heard what she had to say, they didn't think she had anything to say at all, yes people surrounded her, but she always felt alone.

Maybe that's why she liked Draco, why she of all people didn't hold his past against him, she didn't think she could, he was gruff and demanding and really really grumpy on bad days, but he heard her, more so he agreed with her, in a world where Astoria felt like a traitor to both the pureblood society and the post-war reformers because she didn't agree with either of them, Draco didn't blame her.

Astoria knew that many things pureblood people did were wrong, like prosecuting mud-muggleborns and teaching their children to hate people they didn't even know, in fact she herself in her adulthood found that most of the people she liked quite a lot had at least one muggle parent, she also didn't agree with pureblood families turning their backs of family because of who they associated with.

but she did love her legacy, the history behind the pure bloodline that made up her family, hundreds of generations devoid of a drop of non-magical blood, so many witches and wizards that left their mark so Astoria could be proud of her birthright, she wanted to tell her children about how her thrice great grandmother once cast a spell capable of putting an entire kingdom to sleep and how the tapestries on the walls of her family's estate meant that they were part of something bigger, generations in the making, because that's what it meant for her to be part of a great and noble house.

Draco was the only one to ever tell her that it was okay to be proud of her family line but not want to keep their ideals, he even said he wanted to be proud of his bloodline too, because yes, she was right when she viewed it as a good thing, being a pureblood meant that they were part of something genealogical, that didn't have to mean they should do everything by the pureblood book, because look where it got their ancestors?. All this time he'd been so angry at his family, at his status, and his life, but when Astoria spoke, he realized it didn't have to be that way.

Some people say falling in love is like planting a seed and seeing how it grows, with Astoria and Draco it was more of a case of growing together, bickering constantly, reading the newspaper and sharing their points of views with each other, visiting some graves and making some amends in the process.

He didn't say "I love you" when he got on one knee, he said "years ago, I said you didn't know your place, do you think you could find that place at my side Astoria?" and he smiled, because Astoria loved it when she got to coax a smile out of him, just to see those eyes fill with tears again like they did that time at king cross, but unlike then, this time she was nodding in happiness.

"I think I wouldn't want to find any other one" Astoria laughed through her tears "really, I'm awfully sure I've wanted you to be the father of my children for quite some time now"

"So I was late in asking?"

"Very" she replied pulling him up from the ground because, honestly a marriage proposal wasn't worth dirtying his dress robes for "but you smiled and it makes you ten times more handsome so you knew I wouldn't say no"

"So I did, these days I seem to be doing it a lot when you are around"

It wasn't the most romantic of proposals, he proposed on a whim during dinner, not fancy or thought out or filled with pretty words, but it was so Draco to remember the first insult he paid her that Astoria couldn't help but think it was the perfect way to start a marriage.

One day years later, Draco would sit his young son in his lap and tell him the story of the arrogant prat that thought he knew it all and the little girl in the green dress that was trying so hard to be a grown up, he'd tell little Scorpius about how two people found a way to grow together against all odds, about wars and mistakes, he'd explain to a child the story of his youth so he wouldn't make the same mistakes he did, then he'd tell him how he found someone who loved him for who he was when he smiled, how one girl looked at him and willingly forgot to look at his past, because she believed in his future, yes one day he'd tell Scorpius stories, great stories, while Astoria watched him and their son from her seat at his side, smiling with pleasure at the picture they both made.

One day they would both give their son the kind of parental love neither of them had during their youth. And all would be well.

**An: I wrote a one-shot based on my entire Drastoria head cannon**


End file.
